Stealth Feelings
by kindlefire278
Summary: Please read chapter 4: an authors note to the hopefuls who have been waiting for a chapter update. Please don't banish me off your reading lists yet.
1. Chapter 1

Stealth Feelings

Chapter One

"If you both think this is best," said the gentle voice of an old man, with thinning grey hairs and an arched back. "Then I shall fulfill your request. Please remember before you agree that you will not be able to remarry each other after this annulment, and should either of you wish to reconcile it would be impossible to become a union by marriage. I implore you both to reconsider you decision once more."

Hermione and Ron sat across from each other at a square table, with the counseling patron sitting in the middle. Hermione's legs were flat on the ground and her hands in her lap as she looked down at the cream colored parchment stating the terms of their separation. Ron was crossing his arms and slouching back in his chair, holding a firm grimace on his face. They had been married for no less than two weeks before Hermione asked that Ron agree to end it with her.

After the war's end, they took their time planning the wedding so Hermione could finish school and Ron could find a job. They saved up to get a place together and it was fairly easy having Molly getting all the wedding stuff ready. It took about a year before they were financially ready to settle down and the wedding itself went splendidly before about 200 of their friends and family. The honeymoon however, was cut short after just twelve hours. They had decided to go to the countryside in a rented cottage just on the outskirts of a farm. Everything was going well until Ron started complaining about everything. Hermione, who normally put all his whining aside as an ice breaker, grew tired of it and eventually they were in an argument. What they were saying neither could remember, but it drove Ron to floo to a small bar and Hermione to cry for the rest of their day there. When he returned all of her things were packed and she was sitting on their bed. She refused to consummate their marriage and demanded that he apologize to her or she was going home. After a brief argument about how the only home Hermione had was with him, she slapped him in the face and apparated back to Muggle London straight into Harry's living room. A week later Ron had agreed to Hermione's request of separation.

"Well?" said the counselor to the silent pair. "Do you any objections?"

Ron grunted and shuffled in his seat and Hermione shook her head no.

The counselor sighed and took a piece of paper out from under the stack on the table. "Then I need you both to sign here, and it will be as if you were never married." He hated his job because this was the case most of the time. Marriages were rare these years and stable marriages were hard to come by. He counted himself lucky for having a good relationship with his wife. The counselor watched as Ron hurried some untidy scribble on the page then handed the paper to Hermione who took her time yet swiftly graced the page with her signature. "Please try to avoid mishaps like this in the future." He took the papers and shook both of their hands then exited out of the small windowless room.

Hermione was the first to stand up and placed her shoulder bag strap across her chest. She was about to leave after the old man when her ex-husband spoke in a course and raspy voice to her.

"Don't I at least get a goodbye?" He stood as well and placed his hands in his pockets.

"No, Ronald," she said in a loud whisper. "I said goodbye I long time ago. I have no need to repeat myself. She rushed out of the room and walked to the front of the building.

Ron followed behind her, still sounding disappointed. "Well where are you going to go?"

"The same place I've been for the past two weeks: to Harry's flat."

Each step she took away from him felt like torture for Ron. The sound of her heels in the pavement felt like she was sending daggers in his heart with every click. "So you don't think you're putting him out a bit? He might have wanted to live alone and like a grown man at least."

Hermione turned around in one motion and pointed her finger into his chest. Her lips were pursed and her eyes were narrowed. "Not that it's any of your business now, but I won't be there forever. Now if you would be so kind," the last three words she accompanied by placing jabs with her finger, "as to leave me alone. Stop following me." She walked a bit more down the sidewalk and turned into the alley when she knew he wasn't following her anymore. Then she apparated into the extra room in Harry's flat the he was letting her borrow.

Ron was shocked, to say the least. To him this whole thing was blown out of proportion. If she was really going to let one argument after marriage determine the rest of their lives together then his first opinion of her was one hundred percent correct: she was completely mental.

He had planned on apologizing to her once he sobered up a bit but she didn't even a chance to do that. He hated it when she implied that he owed her things like apologies and silly stuff like that. So after hearing her say "I'm waiting for you to say you're sorry," he lost it and blew up in her face. _That's probably what did it,_ he thought as he kicked a rock down the street. When he ran out of sidewalk he turned around and kept on with his make believe sport until he reached Weasley Wizard Wheezes and received an instant smack on the back of his head by George.

"OW! What the bloody hell was that for?" Ron shouted while rubbing the back of his head.

"That, little brother, was for screwing up the one thing you've done right in a long time; along with other things that I might have forgotten to smack you for." George handed Ron his work jacket and went into the back.

"It's not completely my fault, you know!" Ron called after his brother. "She expected too much of me and didn't even give me a chance to say I was sorry."

"Do you know how furious mum is right now? She spent a long time setting up the wedding for you and it was all for nothing. None of us have heard from Hermione so the only reason we know what really happened is because Harry told us what she told him. And another thing, it's a miracle that Hermione expected anything from you, so you shouldn't be sore at her for thinking you could be a husband." George handed Ron a few boxes from the closet and directed him towards the shelves where he was to unload the things inside. "You didn't deserve her at all, I hope you know. Now all you have to do is work on an actually apology if you expect to keep her friendship."

"I'm ignoring you now. I came here to help you out, not to be lectured about why I'm such an arse so you might as well drop it."

"Touchy, touchy, Ronniekins. Spare me your frustration for once. And you are an arse, thank you for saying it for me."

* * *

><p>Hermione sat on the couch that she had transfigured into a bed and laid on her stomach, running her fingers through her soft kitten's fur. The feline's meows were high pitched and innocent, positive responses to her masters' kind strokes. Hermione smiled at what seemed to be her last friend in the world at the moment, and watched the light snow outside fall to the muddy grounds of the alleyway below her. It would only be a few hours before Harry got home and she could have contact with a real human being but for the mean time, she grabbed a small ball of yarn and levitated it as the tiny cat attempted to snatch it out of the air. Playing with Amina always brought a gentle smile to Hermione's face but she did miss human contact.<p>

Since their spat, Hermione had neglected talking to any of the Weasley's, including Ginny. The only person she found herself talking to was Harry and it was only a matter of seconds before she was sobbing on his shoulder. She was lucky to have someone like Harry, who was a friend to her no matter what she went through. What Ron had said earlier, about her holding Harry back from being a man, had really gotten to Hermione. She snapped back at him and walked away, but it still hurt her inside because she knew he was right. Harry was old enough to have female companions and she was sure that the urge popped in his mind every now and then, but he was also very kind to her in that he never brought any one into his home while Hermione was there and he always came straight home from work to keep Hermione some company. She found it especially strange at first, and even went so far as to think that he was helping her like this because Harry could bear secret feelings for Hermione, but she casted those thoughts aside as the meeting with Ron drew closer.

It wouldn't be such a bad thing being with Harry but she had learned her lesson. Becoming more than friends with a very old friend was a terrible mistake. She wasn't daft enough to repeat it with Harry no matter how much she wanted to. Instead of looking for a replacement husband Hermione looked for something else to fill the void. It started with job searches and new hobbies but nothing sparked her interests.

Hermione was awoken from her thought as she heard the front door jiggle and the master key unlock the deadbolt. Harry was home. She heard his footsteps draw closer to her door and closed her eyes and he opened it, continuing to tease Amina with the yarn.

"Hi there," Harry said after clearing his throat. He took a few more steps until he was standing next to her bed. "How was the… meeting?"

Hermione did a humming sigh and shook her head. "It was dreadful. I don't want to talk about it."

"I know you might not want to say anything about it, but you could tell me a little detail." He sat next to her legs and stared at her feet as they hung of the bed. "I haven't spoken to Ron yet and I know he's going to blow a lot of it out of proportion. I want to hear the actual truth. Hermione?"

"It's over now. It's over just as fast as it began. I wish I had never fallen – no, I wish I had never spoken to him. It was all a complete waste." Tears were starting to fall from her eyes and she buried her face in a pillow.

"I know you don't mean that. If you never talk to him then you never would have met me either. As smart as you are, you had no way of knowing that asking a couple eleven year old boys if they'd seen a toad would lead to your divorce. Chin up already. I can't see you married anyway. Besides you're supposed to be saving the world through medicine, or travelling and learning absolutely everything before you turn twenty one. What ever happened to those dreams?"

"I destroyed them along with my marriage." She shifted her body on the bed until she was in the fetal position. "I have no idea what I want to do. I know they'd like me at St. Mungo's and they say they'd enjoy my employment at the ministry. Frankly I don't fancy doing either. I feel like after a few months I would get bored and then I'd be stuck."

"Hermione, that's the most unintelligent thing I've ever heard you say."

"Goodness Harry, you don't have to be rude!"

"You aren't giving me too many options here." Harry stood and stretched his arms all the way out and walked towards the door. "There's nothing much to eat and I'm not in the mood to go to the supermarket. Do you want to go out somewhere? I think it would really cheer you up."

Hermione sighed again and shook her head no. "I don't feel like much right now, Harry."

Harry made a face. "Then I'll order something. Sit tight for a while, okay?" he closed the door at her silence and walked down the hall into the kitchens. He had been lying to her when he said there wasn't much to eat because he wanted to put her in high spirits, but once he looked through the cabinets and searched the fridge he realized that there really wasn't anything to eat. He took a phone book from off of the coffee table in the den and flipped through it, looking for fancy looking take out.

He never wanted to say anything, but in the back of his mind he had predicted something like this would happen between his two best friends. This looked well on the surface, or rather they looked good at first glance between Hermione and Ron, but a row was only moments away. Ron irritated her and he brought the worst out of her. The only time he ever saw Hermione cry was for Ron. Since she didn't even want to muster up enough self-confidence to go out he figured that she was going to spend the night thinking about him.

He continued to flip through the phone book and think of ways to cheer her up. He hated choosing sides between his friends but over the last few years it always came down to things like this.


	2. Chapter 2

Stealth Feelings

Chapter 2

It had been ten minutes since Harry left and Hermione had finally stopped crying. She wanted to cast everyone away until she regained her lost confidence. It wasn't fair that it ended up like this. She ignored all the warnings and let herself believe that everything was going to be okay, because they loved each other. Their union hadn't even lasted one day before it all fell apart. After all the years she spent convincing herself that one day Ron would see her as a girl, after everything they had been through together, it was all over now. It wasn't as if they had rushed into their relationship. In school Ron considered her as a bookworm, someone he could count on to get the answers from, a guarantee that he would pass the next test. During the war they were separated for months and things were too hard when he rejoined her and Harry.

Now that she thought about it, things only managed to work out as long as they did because they were always focused on something else. The year they had officially been a couple was no exception. There were nineteen months between the beginning of their engagement and the actual marriage. He had proposed on May third, the day after the war ended, in front of nearly all the Weasleys, Harry, the Lovegoods, and other friends and family. She was so shocked and quickly said yes. In June he started work for the ministry and in September she went back to school. They owl'd each other often, although Ron had very little to say, and about one weekend a month they would go on a date. Hermione didn't like being away from him so much but it was good for both of them. At the end of the day she figured that absence indeed made the heart grow fonder. Each night before she fell asleep in the head girl's dormitory, she would think about him and how when they saw each other they never argued, but he held her tight and kissed her passionately.

Once she graduated they moved into a 2 bedroom townhome in muggle London and he got a part-time second job helping George out with the joke shop. It had been the anniversary of his proposal and things were going fabulously. They celebrated her graduation and them moving in at the Burrow with everyone over dinner and started planning the final touches of the wedding with Molly the last few weeks in May. Hermione thought a winter wedding would be lovely just like her parents had had. Neither Ron nor Molly had any objections so they decided on a Friday late in October. Now, Hermione could close her eyes and remember everything that happened like it was yesterday. She was so happy then and never thought what they had could have turned into something so ugly.

_Familiarity breeds contempt, just as absence breeds fondness I suppose,_ she thought as she stared out the window once more. By now the snow was at about a fourth of a meter high and there were people outside shoveling and clearing the paths for ice. It was a bit past seven p.m. so she assumed she fell asleep crying and woke up crying. Amina was at the door, rubbing her back and sides on the frame signaling she wanted to go out. Hermione didn't feel like getting up but forced herself to anyway. She cracked the door open slightly and Amina let herself out, dashing into the hallway then on into the living room. Hermione sighed deeply then closed the door back and walked over to her bedroom floor mirror.

What she saw she disliked immediately. Her hair was a catastrophe, her clothes were disarray and her eyes were puffy and red from all the crying. She was in no condition to leave the house, let alone leave the room. Her eyes were then drawn to the large wooden three-drawer dresser sitting next to the mirror. It was then that she remembered reading an article which claimed that feeling good on the inside starts with looking good on the outside. Hermione wasn't sure if she believed it but it was worth a shot. She pulled out a semi-loose top, a cotton white poncho and some faded jeans, laying them out on her bed and grabbing her robe from the closet. She undressed and headed for the shower rom connected to hers.

The door automatically locked behind her as she charmed it to after too many incidences where Harry would walk in on her. The shower was shaped to fit in the corner with a green glass door so he never saw much of anything, but Harry had a horrible habit of not remembering to knock just as she could never remember to lock the door in the first place. After adjusting the water temperature to warm/hot Hermione put her robe on a wall hook and steeped inside, grabbing her soap bar and her dark green washcloth and started to lather up. The warm water managed to rinse the lot of her sadness away and she felt even better after an intense scrub of every part of her creamy white body. Her took her hair scrunchie out and placed it on her wrist then massaged her scalp with a strawberry scented shampoo/conditioner. It was her favorite smell and she loved using it so she charmed it so that it never ran out.

Once all the suds from soap and shampoo were gone she turned the water off and rung her hair out, summoning her robe and hair towel into the shower. It didn't matter that she had steamed the bathroom up completely because it never failed to be below zero in that little room. Her room was warmer and succeeded in staying warm the whole time she was there. After putting the fresh clothes on she looked in the mirror and smiled at the improvement. A few brushes with a wide toothed comb and some gel made her hair look acceptable as well. It wasn't long before Harry was opening her door again.

"Once again you've neglected to knock, Harry," she sighed as she put her dirty clothes in the hamper.

He looked back at the door and around the room before chuckling and scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, I suppose you're right about that," he smiled. "Are you ready for your surprise? You look nice by the way."

She turned to face him. "Surprise?" she asked in a whisper, her cheeks threatening to redden. "I thought you said you would get take out."

"I did get take out, but I squeezed a surprise in because I hate seeing you all gloomy."

Hermione scoffed and crossed her arms. "I beg your pardon if I've been 'gloomy.' I did just get divorced today after all."

"Yeah, yeah I know. Are you ready or not?"

"May I have a hint as to what it is?"

"No just come with me."

* * *

><p>Once he had decided on what to eat and placed his order by phone, he knew just what to do to lift Hermione spirits up. He ran over to the small linen closet and took out a red bed sheet and transfigured it into a table cloth then placed it on the round kitchen table. He then transfigured the dining chairs to look more like outdoorgarden changed the color from brown to green. A good dig through the hallway closet found a few candles and a lighter. He placed them on the table and got two fine chine plates out from the upper cabinets. After arranging everything to look like a nice restaurant he sat on the couch and waited for the take out guy to ring the doorbell.

The wait wasn't long considering how he had perfecting the kitchen setting he planned out. Before he got up he heard the shower water running from Hermione's room and smiled to himself. Whenever she showered she made the whole house smell like strawberries as the scent travelled from under the doors. He answered the front door, tipped the guy and rushed over to set the food out as neatly as possible on the plates. After charming the food to stay warm and laying some wet food out into Amina's dish, he dimmed the lights in the room and put a tape in the cassette player that the Dudley's had sent him for Christmas. He pushed play and admired its work as it played a soft classical selection from Mozart. He debated whether he should play it or not because the environment seemed a little too romantic rather than a friend trying to cheer another friend up. Amina meowed and distracted him from his train of thought, almost like she was giving him her opinion, and started eating the wet food gratefully. He played it anyway and undimmed the lights a little.

As soon as he heard the shower water stop he ran into his room and changed clothes. He had still been wearing his work set and changed into something more casual and appropriate; a pair of blue jeans and a grey tee.

He barged into Hermione's room with and hoped she was dressed. The room smelled better than any other in the house considering it was closest to the source and that a woman resided in it. She was indeed clothed and her hair looked much nicer than it had when he spoke to her earlier.

"Are you ready for your surprise?"

* * *

><p>Hermione's eyes were closed and Harry's hands were covering them as he walked behind her and guided her to the other room.<p>

"I'm not sure how safe this," she said with uncertainty. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but she was having trouble thinking positive thoughts about the surprise he had out for her. True the last surprise he had gotten her was fantastic and it got her to perk up after she left Ron, but men never hit the mark twice in a row when it came to things like that. At least that was her experience so far.

"Have a little faith, we're almost there."

"What's that smell?"

"You mean the strawberries all over the house or the delectable food?" he said with an uncharacteristic smirk.

If she could have she would have rolled her eyes. "No, I meant the burning."

"Those are the candles," he said quickly.

"You lit candles?"

It was then that he let her see the room.

Hermione's eyes widened as she looked around, admiring the effort Harry put into getting dinner for her. He was right about the candles, and there was a table cloth she had never seen on the table, alone with very nice plates and the food arranged professionally. "Are we having Chinese?"

"Yes we are," Harry grinned as he led her into a chair. "My lady, if you would sit here please."

"Oh Harry, this is all too much! Where on earth did you get these chairs?"

He smiled again while he sat down across from her. I transfigured them. I'm not such a lost cause when it comes to transfiguration, you know. Of course McGonagall would disagree with me."

Hermione laughed lightly and watched as he levitated a bottle of wine over to the table and filled the two glasses next to their plates. "All this is for me?"

"I like seeing you smile. I thought you could use it after today."

"You don't suppose all this is a bit much? It seems date-ish."

"Friends can go on dates too."

"Yes I guess you're right. I'll admit I was a little nervous. The last time you surprised me it was completely unexpected as well so I never know what to think." Amina meowed in correspondence.

"You know you love her," he said after swallowing a bite of white rice. Although I'm not crazy about her name I must say."

"I like it. I think it's unique."

"Unique like Crookshanks? Yes it's very unique."

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked at Amina. "Whatever happened to Crookshanks anyway?"

Harry nearly chocked and grabbed for a paper napkin. After wiping the corners of his mouth he swallowed again and replied. "You mean you never went to get him?"

"I – I just now thought of him. He completely left my mind since we had to leave the burrow in such a rush that day."

"Good riddance. He was a horrible cat. Amina is much friendlier."

Hermione shrugged and continued to eat. Silently wondering what happened to the orange fur ball that had stayed by her side for so long. _I can't believe I just forgot about him. It's probably for the best. I don't think Harry would have gotten me a second cat, especially if I was going to be staying with him with cat hair all over the place. And he did like to cause a bit of mischief every now and then._ She looked up at Harry and thought, _then again so does this one._

…

AN: thanks to all the people that reviewed/ added this to their favs or alerts. It means a lot to me.


	3. Chapter 3

Stealth Feelings

Chapter 3

The blinding grey morning light entered Hermione's room, pushing all the shadows of the night away and waking her up. Her eyes shot open only seconds after the light hit her face. Cursing herself mentally for not yet buying curtains for the room, she forced herself out of bed and walked into her bathroom.

She yawned deeply into her hands before turning on the faucet and while waiting for the right temperature. She tied her hair up and pumped some facial wash from a bottle into her hand and applied it to her face. Washing her face became a part of her morning routine ever since she was around fifteen years old. It woke her up and took the morning grogginess away much quicker than a cup of coffee ever did, and her face stayed smooth and clean as a secondary result. Hermione used warm water and the facial wash to clean her face and switched to cold water to rinse it all off and wake herself up. While brushing her teeth she had remembered everything that had happened last night with Harry. It was strange for him to treat her so tenderly, and although she enjoyed having dinner with him and getting a chance to really relax she found it hard not to return to her original assumption that Harry might harbor some feelings for her. Friends don't usually go through so much just to help someone through something like what Hermione was going through after all. The dinner she might be able to understand but buying her a new pet was crossing the line. Pressing the matter was out of the question and would seriously complicate their friendship so she decided against for the time being. Now that she was feeling more alert she could get dressed out of her night slip and go eat breakfast.

Harry was usually gone by the time she woke up and left her room, which was fine for her as she wasn't exactly the best cook and if he was here to eat breakfast then she would feel obligated to make him something. This was probably the hardest part of her entire day since she got out on her own because making any kind of food usually turned out being a fail for her. It wasn't that she wasn't capable. If she really put her mind to work then she was positive she could create culinary masterpieces and even become world renown for memorizing the most complex of recipes. The problem was her thinking process. Cooking something took too much time and she almost always forgot what it was that she was doing.

The very first day she arrived at Harry's place and after she had told him everything about why she was there, he told her she could stay there as long as she liked and welcomed her by showing her around his flat. The last thing he did before went off to some mystery appointment he had was show her around the kitchen and tell her to get something to eat before getting some rest. She followed his instructions and thanked him over and over before letting him leave. When he left she went into the kitchen and took out the things she needed to make an American quesadilla, something she had always wanted to try after reading about a man who tried to break the world record for largest quesadilla. The ingredients were simple enough: a round flour tortilla, peppers, onions, grated cheese, shredded meat, refried beans and guacamole. Hermione warmed both sides of the tortilla until it was a golden brown and added a significant portion of the refried beans and shredded cheese, put the shredded meat on next, and added the onions and peppers. She used the spatula to fold the sides and flipped it over once more to heat everything inside. It smelled absolutely brilliant and she was resisting the urge to drool.

Her thoughts about the food were suddenly interrupted when she realized that Harry wasn't too clear with her about some things. He had rushed out the door after staring at the clock on the wall in the front room just after he finished the tour. He didn't really tell Hermione where he was going and he never specified when he would be back. It was safe for Hermione to assume that he was going on a date since it was too late to be going to work and he was dressed rather nicely. When they hugged, she thought she had smelled aftershave and his neat haircut was obvious. It seemed like he was trying hard to impress someone. Hermione could have been wrong in assuming it was a date but Harry never did things like this for no reason. His hair had even been a little messy for the Yule Ball, but Hermione was sure that if he had been successful in asking Cho Chang that he would have done something proper with it. Her thought process had once again been interrupted by a burning smell. She panicked and tried to salvage her quesadilla but it was more or less ruined. With a slight pout and little determination she scraped off a lot of the burnt parts and covered the rest in guacamole. Overall it was still delicious but if anyone had seen her mistake she would have been mortified and deleted all evidence of the attempt. There was only person who knew what an unfocused chef she was and that was her kindhearted mother, who never made fun of her for it but helped her fix it.

Today Hermione decided that a plain bowl of cereal would be fine, even though she only liked milk in a cup and she was at risk for soggy cereal if she thought too much while eating. Toast was too risky and she didn't want to burn Harry's home down to the ground so she put it to the back of her mind. No matter what she made there was a chance she would ruin it and wasn't in the mood for soggy cereal so she put a jacket on and headed to her parents' house, which happened to be only a few neighborhoods away from Harry's. If she was pleasant enough, (which was never an issue) she could get her mother to make breakfast for her.

…

Harry had been dreading the day after Hermione's divorce. He knew exactly when she planned to do it and she knew it was only a matter of time before Ron came busting through the doors of his office to complain. Over the last week or so Harry figured that Ron was avoiding him since Harry had obviously taken Hermione' side. But now that the matter was dealt with and there was nothing left to fight over, he could assume that Ron was on his way to talk.

Before he could mentally prepare himself for it, the redhead was knocking and entering his office. "Oi, Harry!"

"What?" he asked in response trying his hardest not to chuckle at his predictable best friend.

"So?" Ron sat at the chair opposite Harry and leaned on the desk. "How's it been over there, with her and all?"

Harry sighed and continued to write his report that was due in forty minutes. "I can't tell you anything you don't already know."

"Try me," the ginger challenged. He slouched back and crossed his arms, making the chair rock back and forth at his pleasure. Over his entire life Hermione had always told him not to do it because he could fall, so instead of stopping he would do it just to bother her. Before he knew it the rocking had become a habit and he more often than not ended up smashing Hermione's foot under one of the chair legs.

"All right, fine. Instead of being the Hermione we've known her to be for the last thirteen years, she's become someone almost unrecognizable. She's lost the motivation to do any of the things she said she wanted to do back when we were in school and she constantly doubts herself. I can't get her to perk up for a significant amount of time and she doesn't speak for too long without starting to cry. At least that's how it was when she first started staying with me. I surprised her last night so she should be feeling a little better now that, uh, you two are… well, you know."

"Surprised her how?" his tone was suspicious. There were times when Ron though there was a specific reason she had gone to Harry's place. She could have moved in with her parents just as easily.

"I bought her a cat," Harry said without thinking. He didn't want to lie but Ron was very good at taking things out of context and Harry's gesture to Hermione last night could have been a romantic one, had he tried a little harder and seduced her. He had considered it on more than one occasion; however it was out of the question considering how vulnerable she was right now.

"Oh. She always has liked those things, I guess. What about Scarlett? I know you had a good time with her, eh?"

"Scarlett? Who in Merlin's name is that?"

"The Director of Wizard Relations between Countries, Harry! The French and incredibly sexy board director that Kingsley asked you to escort for the night and told you to look sharp for! That Scarlett."

"Oh, you mean Ms. Guetteur. That was a hassle. If I could have stayed home instead, it would have been grand."

"What do you mean?" Ron scoffed in a whisper. "Blimey, Harry, she was top notch. You should have let me take you place."

"That's not the point, Ron. I'm not interested. She was too forward and she outranks me. If I didn't do what she wanted I could have ended up jobless."

His eyebrows shot up at Harry's words and he had a greedy look on his face. "What are you saying? What exactly did she want?"

"Don't be a prat. I said she was forward, not an all-out tramp. We went to dinner and then I apparated her back to her hotel. Before she would let me go, she demanded a less formal goodbye. There was nothing I could do. And before you ask it was a friendly hug and a small kiss, that's all there was to it." Harry began to blush towards the end of his last statement. He didn't want to admit that he was embarrassed because the woman was quite good looking, and he would have to be a poof to deny it. He was certain that if he hadn't left as fast as he did that she could have convinced him to do a lot more than just a brief kiss on the lips.

"Bloody hell! Why do you get all the good assignments?"

"Because you were too busy that night moping that Hermione had left you feeling sorry for yourself."

"What? I wasn't moping. I didn't mope. I was trying to figure out where she got off just leaving."

"Yes, and then you moped."

"Well next time Ms. Scarlett comes around send her my way instead of just wasting her like that. I would have perked up fast enough if I knew she was coming round."

Harry only shook his head at the mildly inappropriate statement. Ron didn't seem to mind his friends disapproval too much and starting pestering him for her contact info.

"Ron I don't know her contact info! I have to finish this and turn it into Kingsley in like thirty minutes, please!"

Ron pouted and stood to leave. "All right, all right. I hear you loud and clear. When will she be back, do you think?"

"Whenever she has more information she wishes to bribe me with. It wasn't a date but she didn't have any trouble treating it like one. Now get out of here and go apologize to Hermione before you lose her forever." Harry went back to his paperwork as Ron shut his office door, but he could have sworn he heard him mumbling about it not being his fault that he lost her at all. At this point in the toughened relationship Harry couldn't see the trio ever becoming friends again.

The meeting with Scarlett Guetteur hadn't gone as well as Harry would have liked. It was the same evening that Hermione Popped into his living room and he would have preferred to stay home and take care of her, but if he didn't attend then Scarlett would have made the relationship between Wizard France and England very hard to fix. There was a trading system and an alliance going on between the two countries so Harry was indebted to the beauty for the night. As much of a gentleman he was, she made it nearly impossible to refuse him. Her hair was loosely curled down to her back and her lips were red stained. She had almond shaped eyes with a tea green iris; her legs were long and bear as her dress stopped just above her knees and her shoulders were covered just barely by a see through shawl. Of course she was tempting and every other guy at the restaurant was shooting Harry looks of hatred and jealousy, but there was nothing he could do. It was meant to be a professional meeting that met in the midday and she turned it into a date. He didn't want to hold it against her but Kingsley had ordered him to dress for the occasion, and Harry hated shaving.

He placed the report in the drop box by Kingsley's secretary desk and walked into Diagon Alley for lunch, hoping he could forget that night's events and cursed Ron for making him remember.

….

"Hermione, you really should come over more often. Your father and I miss you terribly so," said Jean Granger while serving her daughter a plate of still hot flapjacks, a small pool of maple syrup drilling off into the empty part of the plate with a cold glass of fat free milk, just the way Hermione like it.

"I know I should mum, but I wasn't feeling up to going anywhere. Yesterday was the first time I had gotten out of the house and I had to force myself out of bed. I'm not feeling much like myself these days." she stuffed a few bites in her mouth and took some milk in to help the food go down. "I never even changed my last name."

"That's probably a good thing, dear," her mother said while she washed the dishes she used. "I don't know how it works in the Wizard world, but it's a bit harder changing the names back after a divorce. It's not too much paperwork and there's a small fee, but it's absolutely mortifying going in there when you had just come out not too long ago. You're lucky it could happen as fast as it did. Other divorces usually take a while and there's much more to sort out."

"Well I had it annulled. The marriage was… unconsummated."

"Oh," Jean blushed before wiping the counters down and taking Hermione's plate away. "I see. Are you happy now?"

"I think I'm a lot better off than I was. I know it wasn't a great idea basing the rest of our lives off of one moment but it wasn't like we had only had one argument the entire time we'd known each other. That was one of the few thousand rows that he and I had. If it wasn't going to stop after we got married then it was never going to. I just wish I had realized that before I put everyone through the fuss."

"You had no way of knowing, dear. It isn't anyone's fault things turned out the way they did. I know it may seem like it but it simply wasn't meant to be. You can take this opportunity to figure out what you really want out of life instead of living a lie."

"Do you think you made the right choices when you were my age? When you and dad got married I mean." Hermione began to get curious after hearing how easily her mother could deliver a speech like that.

"Your father and I were a bit older than you and Ronald were. Although we might not have known each other as long as you and he have, we took the time to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses. I always knew I wanted to be a dentist and that was something we shared. We have a lot more in common than you and Ronald have, I'm afraid. It was much easier figuring out what I wanted." Jean took a seat next to her daughter at the table and took her hands. "Why don't you move back in here? You know we'd love to have you and there's so much we miss about you. Everything is still the same in your room so it wouldn't be a trouble at all."

Hermione looked down at the table. They'd been eating at the same dinner table for as long as she could remember and it was still in good condition. The house she lived in as a child hadn't really changed much unless it had to. Living here would be comfortable as it had been when she was growing up. She'd missed her parents when she forced them to live in Australia and since they had no memory of it, it was like they had never left. As tempting as her mother's offer was, she couldn't bring herself to say yes. Probably because she was so used to living to Harry and she didn't want to leave just yet. It was selfish of her to stay when she had come uninvited but she was in a good place and leaving now would throw her off course even more so. She sighed deeply, noting that she had being doing that a lot lately. "I'd like to but…"

"Oh, say no more Hermione. The offer is always on the table; anyway, should you change your mind."

Hermione smiled at her mom in thanks, gave her a heartfelt and said goodbye before heading back home.


	4. Chapter 4

Dear readers,  
>I'm sorry to everyone who has been waiting for a chapter update. I<br>wish I could keep up with your demands and I know you've been waiting  
>for a long time. I was thrown off track and completely lost my<br>inspiration for this story, I have no idea where to take it and  
>everything sounds like crap, whatweareafreaidof is responsible for<br>ruining my mojo buzz, so if you want to blame anyone blame them. I  
>want to rewrite it and I will be working on that from now on. Please<br>don't lose hope with me. I'm going to rewrite chapters one through  
>three and get this story straight. I'm gonna have chapters one two and<br>three rewritten plus 3 new chapters by march 15, I swear to you It's  
>going to be posted under a new story titled "Stealth Feelings: Remind<br>Me Why." If not then go ahead and take me off your alerts but please  
>don't do it before march 15. I'm going to make this time lost up to<br>you all, I promise.

Sincerely,  
>Kindlefire278<p> 


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